definitelynotmagic | deerington { aug 2019 }

IN CHARACTER

Character Name: Merlin
Canon: Merlin (BBC show)
Canon Point: s2ep13 (end of episode)

In-Game Tattoo Placement: Inside of right wrist/forearm.
Current Health/Status: Healthy, able-bodied, not much in the way of scars or old injuries.
Age: ~18 (canon is not specific)
Species: Human.

Content Warnings: death, violence, bullying, prejudice (that leads to threats/violence), the singling out of a group of people to be killed.

History: First things first: Merlin comes from Arthurian legend times, which translates to about the late 400s/early 500s in Europe. With that stated, the show's very vague about many aspects of the setting. Historical accuracy was clearly a non-issue, as was strict adherence to the "original" Arthur mythos (which are a mess anyway). Now that that's out of the way...

Merlin grew up peasant-poor in a village named Ealdor. Gifted with magic since birth, his mother eventually - understandably - realized she couldn't teach him how to control his ever-strengthening powers, and sent him to live with Merlin's uncle, Gaius. Gaius lived in Camelot, serving as the king's physician. Merlin took to the switch from country to castle about as well as one would expect - immediately starting a fight with a man he saw acting like a bully. Well, turns out the bully was Prince Arthur, the King's son and only male heir. A w k w a r d.

Cue lots of hilarious animosity that ends with Merlin (temporarily) imprisoned for picking fights with privileged future warlords.

Alongside those class and moral issues is the fact that magic is outlawed in the kingdom of Camelot - the punishment is always execution of the sorcerer. Merlin has the opportunity to learn to use his powers better, being around ex-magic user Gaius, but in return he has to keep his powers secret. His mother knows about his powers, and his new guardian (and uncle) Gaius know, and...that's it, right?

No, a dragon also knows. Naturally. Merlin meets a dragon, one that's being held as a prisoner under Camelot's castle. It's the sort of dragon that spouts prophecy constantly. This one tells Merlin he's destined to help ensure Arthur (the bully from earlier) becomes a great king and "saves" Camelot. Merlin is, understandably, underwhelmed by this LinkedIn job suggestion, and tries to ignore the call to action.

But since Merlin's already demonstrated he's got strong morals, when Arthur's life is endangered later on by a different magic user, Merlin intervenes. He physically pulls Arthur out of the way of a thrown dagger, and this momentary and instinctive act of bravery ends up winning him...a job as Arthur's personal servant. It's the King's idea, and both Merlin and Arthur are unhappy. (And then they did that for five seasons.)

The main thrust of Merlin's life, from then on, is keeping his magic a secret - and himself alive - while carefully watching over Arthur and ensuring Camelot stays safe. Along the way, there's a lot of friendships forged, destroyed, and re-forged, but the gist of the world remains the same. This is a world that would be hostile to Merlin if it knew what he was, and Merlin is gradually shaped by it despite his best efforts.

Personality: Merlin can be quickly described as the manic pixie dreamgirl archetype; he's funny but weird, smiling but snarky, and he (explicitly) exists as a strange prize and morality pet for an aggressive young man who he'll help tame into being the 'real' hero of the story. Huh.

But let's go a little deeper.

Merlin is outgoing, talkative, and largely cheerful. He's shown to be encouraging of his friends - sometimes more than they'd like - and is strongly driven by a desire to do the right thing. Merlin often goes out of his way to help others, even when it's dangerous or inconvenient (such as when Merlin hides the lost 'Druid boy' Mordred, who in this version of the myth appears as a child who's being hunted down by Camelot guards for sorcery). He makes jokes, he asks after his friends' interests and love lifes and worries, and he's just generally positive.

Merlin is also shown to be impulsive, incredibly nosy, and prone to making decisions that don't just effect him, but other people as well. There are several storylines in the show where Merlin gains knowledge of another character's plight (for instance the ward of the king, Morgana, finding out she has latent magical powers). But because of his need to keep his own secrets, Merlin is often hindered in his ability to collaborate honestly with other characters (for instance: he can't tell Morgana he also has powers). Merlin will often take action anyway, interfering in other character's lives without their permission and often without even their knowledge...all because it's for the greater good.

Let's talk about the 'greater good' for a moment. Merlin starts the series very set in his own personal morals. When a friend of his, Gwen, is wrongfully accused of magic he'd cast and is sentenced to death, Merlin actually confesses he has magic and offers up his life in exchange for Gwen. But no one believes the silly servant, and Arthur intervenes, without Merlin being able to press the issue far enough to get anywhere. As the series progresses and Merlin becomes both more attached to Arthur, and more isolated by keeping his powers a secret in this new setting, and more exhausted by the pressure of his 'destiny' he's told about constantly by the dragon...we can watch this trait change.

Merlin begins to, when backed against a wall, value his secrecy over the comfort of others. Merlin starts making very hard choices, sometimes while directly pressured to do so (as when the dragon tells him the only way to save Camelot is to kill the king's ward, Morgana - Merlin exhausts all other possible options and then, holding back tears, attempts to poison her). Merlin is quite literally shown willing to lie, murder, and sacrifice his own happiness in pursuit of what he sees as the larger goals of his existence.

Merlin's disregard for rules outside of the ones he's adopted aren't all doom and gloom, though. As part of a group of people subject to extreme in-world prejudice and danger, Merlin is incredibly compassionate towards other magic-users or anyone else he comes across who he thinks is being treated unfairly. He breaks out a captured sorceress he finds one night and attempts to keep her safe from searching guards; he advocates in favor of curing people struck with an illness with his magic, even if it might seem suspicious; and he has a dogged persistence for at least trying to fix any bad repercussions he causes by meddling. Merlin is also vocally disapproving of the King's hypocrisy and prejudice towards the people in his kingdom.

Most of Merlin's ability to make hard decisions seem directly tied to his fear of failing his destiny: when pushed against a wall, he tends to dig in his heels until the last possible second, but time and again he's shown to dodge out of the way of his own morals in order to still get the outcome he'd wanted. Merlin is still demonstrably different than the antagonists he faces, but he is increasingly an 'ends justifies the means' person when he believes his destiny - or more importantly, Arthur's - is at stake. The main difference between Merlin's ability for this and King Uther's, for example, seems to be that Merlin isn't a hypocrite about this - he doesn't think he's above his own new rules. Merlin is shown willing to die for his cause, and several times has offered to risk or trade his life for another character's, usually Arthur's.

Merlin appears to fear a lot of things, but most of them can be boiled down to 'not being able to keep everyone he cares about safe'. Merlin's busy-body tendencies are always directed towards good intentions, even if what he's willing to do to get there is increasingly cold as the series goes on.

Abilities/Powers/Weaknesses & Warping: Merlin is very powerful in-universe; he is canonically the most powerful sorcerer that's ever existed, and his universe's magic has a wide — essentially limitless — spread (telekinesis, curses, healing magic, weather summoning/alteration, telepathy, a nonspecific spidey sense for sources of other magic, etc). Since a big struggle Merlin has in-universe is keeping his magic a secret, a lot of my proposed changes/warps will seek to make that even harder, or otherwise become plot device-y, because that's why we're here. In order to fit in with Deerington's themes and setting of power-warping, here's the general proposal:

➟ Merlin's eyes glow gold in-universe every time he activates his magic; I'd like to keep this, even when his magic is warped/backfiring, as it makes it harder for him to keep this a secret.

➟ Merlin has less practice with healing magic, but I'd like to alter the suggested warp; instead of making the target's injury worse, Merlin will cause the target's injury to occur to himself, for as long as he attempts to heal the target.

➟ Merlin's telekinesis will be 1. now limited in proportion to his real strength/body weight (he won't be able to lift/throw/knock down things more than ~double what he could manage on his own) and 2. less reliable to direct. This sets him up for, say, trying to subtly move some keys off a ring and instead flinging them across the room and into a wall, thereby losing any attempt at stealth.

➟ Elemental/weather-based magic (conjuring fire, lightning, etc) will mimic the real deal more; Merlin will be able to summon these, but be far less able to actually control them. Extinguishing a fire he conjured, for instance, won't be easy and might not be possible.

➟ Merlin's ability to sense magic will remain largely unaltered, although he'll occasionally find he's more sensitive to it and that the ambient magic of Deerington acts as white noise, confusing him or just masking sources because it's too hard to 'hear' through the din.

➟ Honestly the list of what magic can do in-universe could get incredibly long-winded, so to summarize the rest of what Merlin could possibly try: all things will be subject to possibly failing at a bad moment, to being redirected or having consequences Merlin didn't intend, or otherwise making a dream-nuisance of themselves. Please let me know if you want an exhaustive list, and here is a link to an ambitious wiki page describing more of what magic does in Merlin's universe.

Inventory: one set of day clothes (1), one set of sleeping clothes (1), one grimoire (book of sorcery) (1), a pocketful of five old coins that will now be useless (1), carved wooden dragon statuette (1), and a book on herbs (1)

Writing Samples: TDM thread (it was a maze...it was a monster maze! shows attitude with a stranger under pressure) (cw: gore)
TDM part 2 (maze monster again) (shows reaction to someone Visibly Not Just Human) (cw: blood)
consensual kidnapping psl (modern au, but still showcasing the same basic character traits) (cw: religious prejudice, imprisonment, injuries)

OUT OF CHARACTER

Player Name: Kathryn
Player Age: 21+
Player Contact: PM this account

Other Characters In Game: Will Graham
In-Game Tag If Accepted: Merlin: Kathryn
Permissions for Character: here
Are you comfortable with prominent elements of fourth-walling?: Yes
What themes of horror/psychological thrillers do you enjoy the most?: Fire-forged friendships; people who don't get along being forced to cooperate (or refusing to, and facing the consequences); people dividing themselves into factions based on ideas about how to handle the monster/setting; honestly just all interpersonal things that can happen as a result of horror settings; horror as a metaphor for confronting internal struggles; horror that is literally just terrible things pushing characters to their limits (but not quite over the edge).
Is there anything in particular you absolutely need specific content warnings for?: No.
Additional Information: N/A.